Guixu True Intent, breaking free of the encirclement

He had secured the Soul Lotus, only to find himself surrounded!

The Soul-Devouring Demon King's terrifying pressure was almost tangible, freezing much of the gorge's space! Countless soul-devouring demons locked their crimson "gazes"-their soul perception-on Lin Yinuo. Their piercing soul shrieks converged into a devastating storm, battering his soul's defenses. Though the masked Wuchang was wounded, his killing intent had only intensified, and the aura of death on his black scimitar waited to strike like a venomous snake. The abyssal beast was also panting heavily, its crimson eyes shifting between the Soul Lotus and Lin Yinuo, clearly unwilling to give up.

All three sides were enemies, and every escape route was cut off!

I can't let myself get trapped here! I have to tear an opening!

His gaze sharp as a blade, Lin Yinuo instantly assessed the situation. The Soul-Devouring Demon King was the greatest threat, but its true body seemed subject to some restriction and could not fully manifest immediately. Wuchang's soul was injured, reducing his strength. The abyssal beast was simple-minded; perhaps he could exploit that!

He drew a deep breath and rallied his divine power again, though he had just expended a considerable amount. Deep within his soul, that trace of willpower began circulating with unprecedented intensity. Faced with this desperate situation, his understanding of "destruction" instead grew clearer and more profound!

Destruction was not merely annihilation on a material level, but an ending on the level of rules, the collapse of order, the erasure of existence! It meant returning everything... to "nothing"!

An entirely new, deeper true intent of destruction arose in his heart-Guixu!

"Roar! Hand over the Soul Lotus!" The Soul-Devouring Demon King's thought thundered toward him again, accompanied by a gray torrent of soul power even thicker and more concentrated than before. Like a celestial river bursting its banks, it bore down on Lin Yinuo! This time, it seemed to have unleashed its true power. Wherever the soul torrent passed, space itself showed signs of distortion and collapse!

Wuchang moved as well. His figure transformed into dozens of black phantoms, real and false indistinguishable, attacking from every direction. Each phantom carried lethal death blade light, sealing off every space Lin Yinuo could dodge into!

The abyssal beast roared, blood-colored flames igniting over its enormous body. Like a meteor crashing into the earth, it charged straight at him, seeking to smash Lin Yinuo to pieces with the most savage force!

Faced with this lethal assault that left no escape above or below, Lin Yinuo instead closed his eyes. He poured his entire mind and all his strength into comprehending and guiding the true intent of "Guixu"!

He gripped the Destruction Thunderblade with both hands. The dark patterns and silver lightning serpents on its blade circulated and intertwined at unprecedented speed. Finally, all its light and aura collapsed inward and contracted, leaving the blade plain and unadorned, as though it were merely a length of ordinary iron.

Yet beneath that utter plainness, an ultimate deathly stillness was brewing, enough to freeze the soul itself!

At the instant before the three attacks struck him-

Lin Yinuo's eyes snapped open! There was no longer lightning or flame in them, only an absolute darkness in which all things ended and all laws returned to Guixu!

"Destruction... Guixu!"

He softly uttered those words and gently swept the Destruction Thunderblade forward. It appeared slow, yet in truth transcended the constraints of time and space.

There was no earth-shaking explosion, no dazzling radiance.

There was only a fine black line, seemingly formed from the deepest "nothingness," extending from the sword's tip.

The instant that line appeared, time seemed to stand still. The surging soul torrent, the death blade phantoms attacking from across the sky, and the wildly charging abyssal beast all seemed to meet their nemesis the moment they touched the thin black line!

The soul torrent silently broke off and dissipated, as though it had never existed; the death blade phantoms melted rapidly like ice and snow in sunlight; the abyssal beast's enormous body, burning with blood-colored flames, began collapsing and disintegrating like a sandcastle from the point of impact the instant it struck the line. Before it could even scream, it had turned into the finest particles and returned to nothingness!

The thin black line continued unabated, lightly sweeping through the dense swarm of soul-devouring demons behind them like the brush of a god of death!

There was no resistance, no struggle. Every soul-devouring demon the line swept through, regardless of rank, vanished instantly like a pencil drawing rubbed out by an eraser! Even the traces of their existence were erased along with them!

One stroke emptied the space ahead! All that remained was the line of Guixu, still slowly extending forward and radiating an aura of ultimate deathly stillness, and the Soul-Devouring Demon King's true body hidden in the distant mist, roaring in shock and fury!

Silence!

Deathly silence!

Wuchang stood frozen in midair, his face beneath the mask filled with utter horror and disbelief! He stared fixedly at the thin black line, sensing the terrifying conception within it that made even his Ed of Death tremble, as though it too would return to nothingness. An icy chill shot from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head!

What... what power is this?! How could the Destruction Rule possibly reach this level?! He's only a Midgod!

Without hesitation, he turned and fled! He did not even dare leave a parting threat. His figure became a wisp of black smoke and instantly escaped into the depths of the mist, disappearing. The Soul Lotus, the mission-before such absolute power, none of it mattered as much as his own life!

Lin Yinuo did not pursue him. His face was pale as paper, and his body swayed slightly, nearly falling from the air. This move, "Guixu," had almost drained all his divine power and mental power, and had even faintly touched his soul's essence! Its power was indeed incomparably terrifying, but its consumption was equally enormous. It was by no means something he could use lightly in his current state.

Guixu... what a terrifying drain. I probably won't be able to use that strike again for several days.

He forced himself to hold on, not daring to linger here. Though the Soul-Devouring Demon King had been intimidated, it had not retreated. Its terrifying soul pressure remained locked on him; it merely did not dare approach rashly for the moment.

He fixed his sights on the passage cleared by "Guixu" and used Thunder Shadow Void Escape without hesitation. Driving his remaining divine power to its limit, he became a dim streak of lightning and fled desperately toward the gorge's exit!

"Human! You cannot escape!"

The Soul-Devouring Demon King's enraged thought exploded behind him like thunder. An even more terrifying soul attack was brewing, but it seemed wary of the power of "Guixu" and did not release it immediately.

Lin Yinuo fled recklessly, pushing his speed to its limit while taking out the Crescent Moon Jade Talisman, ready to crush it and return at any moment.

Just as he was about to leave Fallen Soul Gorge's boundaries, the system notification sounded in his mind again, this time with unprecedented solemnity:

[Ding! Detected that the host comprehended the Destruction Rule's true intent, "Guixu" (rudimentary form), in a desperate situation, touching the origin of rules. The soul's compatibility with rules has increased!]

[Warning: The power of "Guixu" involves the ultimate mysteries of the universe, consumes enormous energy, and can easily draw the attention of higher-level beings. Host, please use it cautiously and strengthen your foundation as soon as possible.]

The attention of higher-level beings? Does it mean Sovereigns? Or...

He had no time to think further. At last, he burst out of Fallen Soul Gorge's suffocating soul mist. Without hesitation, he immediately crushed the Crescent Moon Jade Talisman in his hand!

Hum!

Spatial power enveloped his entire body, and the scene before him began to blur and distort.

In the final instant as the teleportation activated, he vaguely sensed a cold, noble consciousness, seemingly containing the Netherworld's endless Ed of Death, appear to cross boundless space and sweep over the place where he had just unleashed the power of "Guixu"...

Was that the Sovereign of Death?!

The next moment, the world spun. He had already left that chaotic, deathly still place and returned to his own courtyard in the inner city of Zijing Main City.

"Pfft!"

The moment he landed, he could no longer hold on. He spat out a mouthful of blood and dropped to one knee, his aura weakened to the extreme. Yet in his hand, he tightly gripped the Moonveil Pouch containing the Moonlight Soul Lotus.

The mission was complete!